Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) - Cassandra Clare Page 0,199

and awkward for her to be here at all.

Grace’s hands shook as she closed the door. She turned back and, to James’s immense surprise, knelt down on the floor in front of him.

He took a step back. “Grace. Don’t.”

“I must,” she said. Her hands were in fists. “I understand why you don’t want to listen to me. You have every reason. But I must beg you to do just that.” She exhaled a shuddering breath. “I engaged myself to Charles because I believed that by the time my mother recovered, she would be unable to hurt me. She would find me protected by the Consul’s family.”

“Yes,” said James. “I know. They will indeed protect you. The Fairchilds are good people.” He exhaled. “Grace, get up, please.”

She got to her feet, her chin raised. “I returned to Chiswick House with Charles yesterday, to fetch some of my belongings,” she said. “I intend to remain away from home until my marriage. I saw my mother there, and at first I thought I had been successful. She seemed pleased I had made a powerful match. Then I realized she had lost interest in what I had done because she had larger plans.”

James frowned. Under her eyes he could see the tracks of recent tears. Worry stirred, despite himself. “What kind of plans?”

“You know she hates you and your father,” Grace said rapidly. “She hates her brothers as well. She has always believed that one day they would kill her to get Chiswick House back.”

“In the state it’s in, she’d be lucky if anyone wanted it,” said James, but Grace didn’t seem to hear him.

“When she woke from her sickness, she found out somehow—I do not know how—that you had nearly died, and she believes…” Grace seemed to be struggling for words. “She has always believed that Jesse might be brought back from the dead if she used necromancy. She called upon warlocks, hoping they would do dark magic for her. She begged demons to help her—”

James was appalled. “But that is madness. To dabble in such things is a near-certain death sentence.”

“She did not dabble. She dedicated herself to the idea, collecting books of necromancy, scouring Shadow Markets for Hands of Glory—”

“But the Enclave searched Chiswick House. They found no trace of dark magic.”

“She keeps it all at the manor in Idris.”

“And you never told me of any of this?” said James.

“How could I? And implicate you, too? She is mad where you are concerned. Since she awoke from her poisoned sleep, she has been raging and ranting. She says she knows now there is no chance Jesse will ever return. She says it is as if you stole his last breath by surviving the Mandikhor.”

“What?” James’s head was spinning. “How would that be possible?”

“I would tell you if I knew. James, she is dangerous,” said Grace. “She has built herself a palace of dreams and lies, and when those lies are threatened, she lashes out. Do you remember the automaton in the hallway of the manor in Idris?”

“Yes, though I don’t see what that has to do with anything—”

“It was enspelled by a warlock years ago,” said Grace. “In the event of her death, it is enchanted to rise up and kill Shadowhunters. Now she has decided that Jesse will never rise and that she has nothing to live for. She plans to end her life tonight, and when she does, it will wreak havoc. It will go to Alicante—”

James’s heart had begun to pound. “I understand what it will do,” he said. “Grace, we must go to my parents with this information.”

“No! No one must know, James. If the Clave arrests my mother, if they search Blackthorn Manor, they will see how deeply my mother has sunk into necromancy and black magic, and I will be at fault as well, and Jesse—” She broke off, her hands fluttering like panicked moths. “If she knew I had given away her secrets, Mama would want me to be blamed, James. I could be locked in the Silent City.”

“That need not happen. This is Tatiana’s sin, not yours. And she is clearly mad—there can be mercy for the mad—”

She raised her face to his. Her eyes gleamed; tears or determination, he could not tell. “James,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?” he echoed. “For what?”

“I never wanted to do this to you,” she said. “But she insisted. And he insisted. It had to be you. My mother made me her blade, to cut every barrier